Learn Hardcore Finnish: Onneksi minulla on vielä aikaa levätä.

Literally, it comes from onni (luck, good fortune) + the ending -ksi (a case ending called the translative). Historically it was something like into luck / into good fortune, but in modern Finnish you can just treat onneksi as one word meaning fortunately.

It usually comments on the whole sentence, not just one word. So:

Onneksi minulla on vielä aikaa levätä.
= Fortunately / Luckily, I still have time to rest.

You can also move it inside the sentence:

Minulla on onneksi vielä aikaa levätä. – The meaning is basically the same; it just sounds a bit more like you’re adding fortunately into the middle of your thought.

Why is it minulla on and not something like minä have? How do you say I have in Finnish?

Finnish normally does not use a separate verb meaning to have. Instead, it uses a structure that literally means on me there is.

minulla = on me (adessive case of minä = I)
on = is / are

So:

Minulla on aikaa.
= literally On me is time.
= I have time.

This pattern is used for most have sentences:

Minulla on auto. – I have a car.
Sinulla on koira. – You have a dog.
Hänellä on ongelma. – He / She has a problem.

So in Onneksi minulla on vielä aikaa levätä, the have idea is expressed by minulla on.

Why is it minulla and not minä? What is that -lla ending?

Minulla is minä (I) in the adessive case, marked by -lla / -llä.

The adessive originally means on something, at something, or with something. In the have-construction, the possessor appears in the adessive:

minä → minulla – on/at me
sinä → sinulla – on/at you
hän → hänellä – on/at him/her
me → meillä – on/at us
te → teillä – on/at you (pl.)
he → heillä – on/at them

Then you add on:

Minulla on kirja. – I have a book.
Heillä on kiire. – They are in a hurry. (literally: They have hurry.)

So in your sentence:

minulla = on/at me
on = is/are

Together, minulla on = I have.

Why is aikaa in the form aikaa and not aika?

Aikaa is the partitive singular of aika (time).

Finnish uses the partitive for:

Indefinite amounts / “some” of something, especially uncountable things.
Many fixed expressions like olla aikaa tehdä jotakin – to have time to do something.

In Minulla on aikaa levätä, you are not talking about a specific, clearly limited chunk of time, but some amount of time. That is why aika appears as aikaa.

Compare:

Aika on loppu. – Time is up. (the whole time is finished; nominative aika)
Minulla on vielä aikaa. – I still have (some) time. (indefinite amount; partitive aikaa)

What is the difference between aika, aikaa, and ajan?

All three are forms of the noun aika (time):

aika – nominative (basic form)
- Aika on rahaa. – Time is money.
aikaa – partitive singular
- Minulla on aikaa levätä. – I have (some) time to rest.
- Often used when talking about having time, because the amount is not fixed.
ajan – genitive singular
- Työpäivän ajan – during the workday
- Tunnin ajan – for an hour

So in minulla on vielä aikaa levätä, aikaa is partitive because you have an unspecified amount of time to rest.

What does vielä mean here, and does it always mean still?

In this sentence, vielä means still:

Minulla on vielä aikaa levätä.
= I still have time to rest.

Vielä can also mean yet, depending on context:

En ole vielä valmis. – I am not ready yet.

In negative sentences, Finnish often uses enää for no longer / not anymore, and vielä for yet:

Minulla ei ole enää aikaa levätä. – I no longer have time to rest.
Minulla ei vielä ole aikaa levätä. – I do not have time to rest yet.

Word order is flexible:

Minulla on vielä aikaa levätä. – neutral
Minulla on aikaa levätä vielä. – a bit more emphasis on later / still later
Vielä minulla on aikaa levätä. – emphasizes still (for now I still do).

Why is levätä in the basic form and not conjugated (like lepään)?

Levätä is the 1st infinitive (dictionary form) of the verb to rest.

In Finnish, verbs often appear in the infinitive when they are complements of another verb or expression, similar to English to rest, to eat, etc.

The pattern here is:

olla aikaa tehdä jotakin – to have time to do something

So:

Minulla on aikaa levätä. – I have time to rest.
- levätä is not the main verb; the main verb is on (from olla).

If you conjugate levätä (e.g. lepään – I rest), it becomes a separate clause:

Minä lepään. – I rest. / I am resting.
Minulla on aikaa, joten lepään. – I have time, so I rest.

In your sentence, levätä must stay in infinitive because it is tied directly to olla aikaa – you have time to rest.

Can I leave out Onneksi and just say Minulla on vielä aikaa levätä? What changes?

Yes, you can.

Minulla on vielä aikaa levätä. – I still have time to rest. (neutral statement)
Onneksi minulla on vielä aikaa levätä. – Fortunately / Luckily I still have time to rest. (expresses a positive attitude about that fact)

So Onneksi adds the speaker’s emotional evaluation: the fact that there is time is good or fortunate.

Can the word order change? For example: Minulla on onneksi vielä aikaa levätä or Minulla on vielä aikaa levätä, onneksi?

Yes, Finnish word order is relatively flexible, and all of these are possible, with slightly different emphasis:

Onneksi minulla on vielä aikaa levätä.
– Very natural. Onneksi sets the tone at the start: Fortunately…
Minulla on onneksi vielä aikaa levätä.
– Also normal. Here onneksi is embedded; it sounds like you’re inserting fortunately into the middle of what you’re saying.
Minulla on vielä aikaa levätä, onneksi.
– Also grammatical; onneksi at the end comes off a bit like an afterthought, or like you are summing up: …I still have time to rest, fortunately.
Vielä minulla on aikaa levätä.
– Emphasizes still; often used in a contrast like For now, I still have time to rest (but maybe not later).

All of these keep the same basic meaning; word order mainly changes which part gets extra stress.

Could I say Onneksi minulla on vielä vähän aikaa levätä to mean Fortunately I still have a little time to rest?

Yes, that is exactly how you say it.

vähän = a little, a bit
vähän aikaa = a little time (note that aikaa is still in the partitive)

So:

Onneksi minulla on vielä vähän aikaa levätä.
= Fortunately, I still have a little time to rest.

The structure is the same:

Onneksi – fortunately
minulla on – I have
vielä vähän aikaa – still a little (of) time
levätä – to rest

Why is it levätä and not a noun like lepoa (rest)? What would aikaa lepoon mean?

Both verb and noun options exist, but they are slightly different:

With the verb (your sentence):
- Minulla on aikaa levätä. – I have time to rest.
  - Focus on the action of resting.
With a noun:
- Minulla on aikaa lepoon. – I have time for rest.
  - Grammatically OK; sounds a bit more abstract or formal, focusing on rest as an activity / period.
Using the noun inside a compound:
- Minulla on vielä lepoaikaa. – I still have rest-time / time off.
  - lepoaika = rest time, break time; lepoaikaa is its partitive.

In everyday speech, olla aikaa + verb in infinitive (like levätä) is extremely common and usually the most natural choice for actions.

Is Onneksi the same as saying by luck or by chance? When should I use sattumalta instead?

Onneksi expresses a positive evaluation: it is good / fortunate that something happened.

Onneksi minulla on vielä aikaa levätä.
– It’s a good thing that I still have time to rest.

If you want to say by chance / accidentally / coincidentally, you usually use sattumalta:

Tapasimme sattumalta. – We met by chance.

So:

Onneksi ≈ fortunately, luckily (speaker’s attitude)
sattumalta ≈ by chance, coincidentally (how something happened)

You would not normally say Minulla on sattumalta vielä aikaa levätä unless you really mean It just happens, by chance, that I still have time to rest, which is much less common than simply saying it’s fortunate.

Is this sentence formal or informal? How would it sound in everyday spoken Finnish?

Onneksi minulla on vielä aikaa levätä. is neutral standard Finnish. It works in writing and in careful speech.

In casual spoken Finnish, pronouns and endings are often shortened. You might hear:

Onneks mul on viel aikaa levätä.

Changes:

Onneksi → Onneks
minulla → mul
vielä → viel

The basic grammar is the same; only the pronunciation (and spelling, if written as dialect) becomes more colloquial.

How do I pronounce Onneksi minulla on vielä aikaa levätä?

Rough syllable division and stress (primary stress is always on the first syllable of each word):

ON-nek-si
MI-nul-la
on
VIE-lä
AI-kaa
LE-vä-tä

Tips:

Double consonants (nn, kk, ll) are held longer than single ones. In onneksi, you hold the n slightly longer.
ä is like the a in cat.
ai in aikaa is like English eye.
Every written vowel is pronounced; there are no silent letters.

Spoken at normal speed, it flows as:

ON-nek-si MI-nul-la on VIE-lä AI-kaa LE-vä-tä.